Two Free Ways to Play Movie DVDs in Windows 10
You placed a movie DVD into your Windows 10 computer’s DVD drive, but you were asked to go to Windows Store to buy an app to play the DVD. Why is this? The reason for this is that Microsoft kills the built-in support for DVD playback in Windows 10 as less and less people use their DVD-ROM drives to play DVD, and eliminating the DVD support can also save Microsoft money on software patents licenses applied on the DVD player in each copy of Widows.
So, how to play DVD in Windows 10? Here are two ways:
Tip: In today’s digital trend, why don’t you rip your movie DVDs to digital MP4 or MKV videos so that you can play them on any devices.
Windows DVD Player
After Microsoft removed the built-in support for playing DVDs in Windows 10, a number of Windows fans who still have the need for DVD playback on PC expressed their strong indignation and firm opposition, as a result Microsoft took the DVD playback functionality separately and developed the Windows DVD Player application which is freely available for the previous Windows Media Center users, that is, people who used Windows Media Center on the Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 8/8.1 with Media Center Pack, and Windows 8/8.1 with Pro Pack can get a free copy of the Windows DVD Player app after upgrading their systems to Windows 10. But, if your previous system does not come with Windows Media Center, you are required to pay $14.99 for using it.
Windows DVD Player has a modern UI. When started, it searches your DVD drive for movie files to play. You can set movie to AutoPlay when you insert a DVD disc.
Windows DVD Player is not perfect, even can be said to be problematic. The following are six major problems summarized by Microsoft and the corresponding solutions.
Problem 1: the video is stuttering or failing to play.
Solution: update graphic driver.
Problem 2: when switching DVD discs, Windows DVD Player fails to play the new DVD.
Solution: restart Windows DVD Player.
Problem 3: Windows DVD Player refuses to read the inserted DVD disc.
Solution: shut down Windows DVD Player, re-place the DVD disc, then launch the player again.
Problem 4: Placing a DVD opens the Windows Store.
Solution: type “DVD” into Start menu search box, click the AutoPlay option, in the opened AutoPlay dialog panel set“Play DVD (Windows DVD Player)” for the four DVD entries, including “DVD movie”, “Enhanced DVD movie”, and “DVD-Audio”.
Problem 5: Windows DVD Player will not play audio using Dolby Digital Plus 5.1.
Microsoft does not offer the solution currently but some users say updating Window 10 will solve the problem.
Problem 6: Playing a DVD to a second screen using HDMI sometimes fails.
Microsoft does not offer the solution currently, and the relevant users can stay on top of Microsoft’s new updates on the solution to this problem.
VLC Media Player
If you don’t like Windows DVD Player, you can opt for a third-party DVD playback solution. In fact, there are a number of free and open-source media player apps that support DVD playback in Windows 10, such as VLC Media Player, GOM Media Player, KMPlayer, MPC-HC, etc. Here VLC Media Player is highly recommended because of its user-friendly interface, cross-platform feature, ability to play nearly all types of digital media files, various streaming media protocols, DVDs, CDs, and VCDs, and effective and stable video decoding capability.
Go to VLC Media Player’s official website to download it. Ensure the “Discs Playback” option is selected during installation. When launched, go to Media menu and select Open Disc… to load DVD movie files and then click on Play. Just enjoy the DVD.
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